As a self-proclaimed lazy girl, these are REAL real.

As Associate Community Editor, I produce quizzes of every variety — from tricky trivia to those sweet nostalgic bites and everything in between.

While I know this isn't realistic for a good portion of Americans (the people yearn for walkable communities!), it was luckily available to me. I was 21 years old and didn't have a car, so I decided to walk to the closest fitness center. It made my commute there turn from three minutes to 17, but I truly think it rewired my brain in those early days, already making me feel committed to going to the gym that day.

But as the weeks went on, I found cheat codes to trick myself into taking even more steps. Like parking in the very back of the store, walking my dog around the entire neighborhood and back (instead of just letting her use the backyard) for each potty visit, and getting off the bus a stop early. As someone who had to lug herself to the gym at first, these little habits felt a lot more natural than forced.

To be completely honest, I was relying on these apps too often. Why spend the hours I have free prepping, cooking, and cleaning, when I could tap an app and get my dinner here in minutes?

Most people who have food delivery apps can balance them into their diet and budget just fine, but especially in the early days of getting on track, I knew myself too well. It went from ordering dinner on the apps once a week, to most of the week, to finally ordering nearly three times a day, multiple days in a row. So, I went cold turkey. 

I won't lie and say that I never eat fast food (it's actually been worked into my routine diet, as swaps), but I can say that since starting my weight loss journey in 2023, I have not redownloaded any delivery apps!

Yes, the delivery apps were in my past, but I didn't give up fast food or desserts completely; I just learned how to order them to help my progress, not erase it. You'll hear some suggest the "80/20 rule," where you stay on a lean diet for 80% of the time and then eat whatever less so for the other 20%. While I think that's a great plan and somewhat follow that now, I knew early on that depriving myself was going to get me nowhere.

I realized that I was putting in so many weekly hours at the gym just for it to be washed out by one or two big meals. And as a lazy girl at heart, that didn't sit right with me. So, I researched fast-food swaps and decided that I probably shouldn't get a large Big Mac, a Coke, and a McFlurry every other day. With some more menu reading, I found that I could order items like the Taco Bell grilled chicken bowl, the Chick-fil-A grilled chicken wrap, and the Wendy's Caesar salad (with a side of fries, of course). Over time, these swaps have become actual holy grails that I now crave, but even early on, I knew that these were ways I could still enjoy the food I ate without regularly erasing progress.

I know, I know. Protein seems to be the trendy word in food right now, and I don't think everything needs to be high protein. Especially in the early days of losing weight, I wanted to keep my calories within my deficit (which is HARD when adding protein). Like anything else, I found ways to trick my lazy girl brain into getting her protein and feeling fuller faster.

I ate cheese and crackers for an afternoon snack nearly every day. But to add just a touch more protein, I replaced the cheese with tuna and chicken packets (before you judge, just know that they come in many good flavors now). I removed sour cream from my taco and chili nights at home and swapped in Greek yogurt. My daily sweet treats were still a thing, but now they were often flavored yogurt with fruit or honey added. And I ALWAYS make a day of the week where dinner is "[insert dinner] bowl night" — favorites have been burrito bowls (swapping in lean ground beef), egg roll bowls (swapping in ground chicken), sushi bowls (salmon), and cheeseburger bowls (ground beef).

While protein bars and shakes just aren't for me (it's the taste, I'm sorry), when I was first losing weight, I added a scoop of protein powder to my daily iced coffee and mixed it into my yogurt. If you're already going to be eating it, then it made sense to me to add.

I will be the first to admit that I was not drinking enough water for an adult. I loved Coke and probably drank close to three cans of it a day, along with a couple of cups of coffee. But once I cut out sugary sodas and other drinks, I found myself actually wanting water.

I invested in a huge water bottle that I carried to the gym every day and made it my mission to finish two refills before the day was over. But since I went to the gym right before dinner, I started drinking water instead of sodas with my dinner, and over a couple of weeks, it made me drink more water during dinner and crave fewer servings on my plate. After that, water became the only drink I'd have with lunch and dinner.

I mean this with love in my heart, but spare me the hate for diet sodas. I've heard it all, and I get it; they're not for everyone. I actually HATED them early on when I was losing weight, but drinking 120 calories when my decefit was 2000, seemed almost wasteful to me.

So, I tried just about every diet and zero-sugar soda, and found my favorites. These staples are great when I'm out with friends and want a drink while socializing (while staying on track) and still want a caffeine boost. And it's just another swap that made sense for me and my weight-loss journey — something I loved before losing weight that I didn't have to totally sacrifice in my lifestyle change.

This is a luxury that not everyone has. I had a single mom who worked two jobs — she used to find plates in our family van, because the only time she had for meals was on her drive to work! So, this might look different for everyone else. For me, it meant stopping having lunch at my desk and actually taking the time to sit at the table, no scrolling and no TV during.

For dinner, I stopped watching a TV episode or movie in the background and just slotted time for dinner. While chewing, I set down my utensil until the bite was complete. It sounds weird, but I trained myself to focus on eating and savoring every bite, instead of scooping up the next.

Maybe my outlook on this one is a bit different, as I've been every size from 00-18, but I felt like I had to keep up an appearance of looking smaller than I was. Even when it was apparent I was over 200 pounds, I kept trying to squeeze into my old clothes that no longer fit. I actually even had to cut myself out of a dress once, true story.

Once I started investing in workout clothes that fit my current body, I felt a confidence boost that had me excited to keep going to the gym and push harder.

This was honestly probably the hardest for me. I have been used to staying up well past midnight since I was 12. Often, I have nothing to do, but I find it easy to keep myself up. When I started working more intense workouts into my days, this became easier, but at first, I set a strict bedtime of 10 p.m. on weekdays and fell asleep by 11.

The biggest takeaway from this habit early on in my weight loss was the extra sleep it was giving me, but I also found myself eating less, craving fewer snacks, and feeling more energized for my day at work and the gym in the morning.

If I haven't said it enough, I will again: I'm a lazy girl at heart. It is so easy for someone else or me to convince myself to skip the gym. Early on, while losing weight, I would be so tired from a day of work and general life that I went from a three-hour workout plan to a 30-minute one. I changed my mind so many times, from walking 10 miles to just three. 

But those even half-effort workouts were workouts. I didn't move my body as much as I initially planned those days, but the progress still moved.